YouTube's New TV Tools, Prompted Playlist on Spotify, & More

Today in the business of podcasting:

• YouTube is rolling out new TV features including Stations (a FAST-style 24/7 channel hub), TV Companion (phone-to-TV interactivity), and voice-enabled Ask chatbot support on smart TVs.
• Despite sports podcasting's success in the U.S., sports podcasts barely register in Latin America's Spotify charts, but Genuina Media's David R. González sees the 2026 FIFA World Cup as a major growth opportunity for LatAm sports podcasters and advertisers.
• Spotify has launched a beta Prompted Playlist feature for podcasts, letting Premium users in seven markets use generative AI to build and auto-update personalized podcast playlists.
• Podcast strategist Steve Raizes shares how two structural changes, cold opens and episode callbacks, helped a struggling show achieve a 264% increase in cumulative downloads and views.
• Audacy is cutting jobs across its broadcast radio division and consolidating around a regional leadership structure, with the podcasting side of the business appearing unaffected.

To find links to these, and every article covered in today's episode, click here. You can also subscribe to The Download's newsletter to receive the full issue straight to your email inbox every day.